DOZENS of passengers were still in hospital yesterday after a train collision in a station on the Spanish Mediterranean coast that killed two people and injured 142.

Miguel Corsini, president of the national railway company Renfe, said the Euromed en route from Alicante to Barcelona was hit laterally on Saturday night by a regional Catalunya Express as it switched tracks at Torredembarra station, 50 miles down the coast from Barcelona.

Mr Corsini said two people died in the crash, although spokesmen for emergency services had estimated at least three deaths.

Authorities said 42 people were still in hospital.

They identified the dead as a 36-year-old woman from Valencia and a 52-year-old woman from the Barcelona area.

The Spanish news agency Efe reported that the drivers of both trains were taken to hospital and had not yet been questioned.

It added that 12-year-old girl was in critical condition with head and pelvic injuries.

Mr Corsini said signalling systems were apparently working properly in the station, which had been renovated five years ago to make way for the high-speed Euromed service.

He said investigators were trying to figure out why the Catalunya Express, which was running five minutes behind schedule, merged into the main track just as the Euromed was passing at 97mph. About 650 passengers were on the trains.